Iran Egoiste Art

Egoiste and Art

Égoïste (no 17, 2015) is a fascinating and intriguing magazine one can be given to read and look at. Slowness and distinction: Égoïste is a niche magazine but we are grateful to people who defy time, and break free from dogma, creating excellence.

The cover of volume II is the transgressive and troubling Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani in the nude.

Her photos are much more than stunning and inspiring.

The photographs are preceded by a brilliant interview: “Exile is my Strength”, a hymn to liberty, and sincerity; things long forgotten in Iran.

For volume I, a superb portrait of Australian icon Cate Blanchett, reminds us of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning how to be a Queen.

I am, we are, grateful to Golshifteh Farahani and all artists for whom freedom is dear.

Sonnet to Liberty

NOT that I love thy children, whose dull eyes See nothing save their own unlovely woe, Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to know, But that the roar of thy Democracies, Thy reigns of Terror, thy great Anarchies, Mirror my wildest passions like the sea, And give my rage a brother—-! Liberty!

For this sake only do thy dissonant cries Delight my discreet soul, else might all kings By bloody knout or treacherous cannonades Rob nations of their rights inviolate And I remain unmoved–and yet, and yet, These Christs that die upon the barricades, God knows it I am with them, in some things.